Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!boulder!seri!wind55!marshall From: marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: FAQs Message-ID: Date: 31 Oct 90 16:01:23 GMT References: <9848.6524.forumexp@mts.rpi.edu> <4745@rex.cs.tulane.edu> Sender: news@seri.gov (news) Distribution: na Organization: Solar Energy Research Institute Lines: 39 keating@rex.cs.tulane.edu (John W. Keating) writes: >In article <9848.6524.forumexp@mts.rpi.edu> Barry Bailey writes: >> [Barry's idea about creating a comp.windows.ms.faqs newsgroup to >> take care of the frequently asked questions list deleted for >> brevity's sake...] >> >> any thoughts, suggestions, flames... >This is not a flame, just my thoughts on the matter... :^) >I, personally, don't think such an idea would be that useful. Most of >the people who would ask such questions would likely not look there first >for the answers. The best bet (though it would increase bandwidth :^( ) >would be to just post the faq here on this list once a week. This would >allow anyone just signing on a reasonable chance to catch the list before >it gets purged from their systems. (Actually, considering that its main >purpose is to stop the asking of common questions, I guess it would still >be lowering total bandwidth, even after posting once a week.) The next >step would be to find someone who would post it every weekend. (The person >who wrote it? Another sucke... errr, volunteer?) I'm no Unix guru, but wouldn't it be possible to periodically post a small notice telling folks that a FAQ list exists and how to get it instead of posting the whole list? Can't some sort of a mail server be set up that automagically sends the FAQ list to anyone who mails in a request? The notice could include a table of contents so the new subscribers would know what questions are answered. This would use a lot less bandwidth than a regular posting of the full text of the FAQ. Just a thought... -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Missionary VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future